'Heaven Hears'

Every parent dreads that
call that comes in the
middle of the night. Pat
Boone’s second daughter,
Lindy Boone Michaelis,
was on vacation in Spain when she received
such a call in June of 2001. Her sister Debby
explained that Lindy’s son Ryan, a 24-yearold
budding screenwriter, had accidentally
stepped through a skylight and fallen three
stories. Ryan’s skull was fractured, his
lungs collapsed and his heart stopped.

Grandparents Pat and Shirley were the
first family members to arrive at the hospital,
and the doctors made it clear that “people
in Ryan’s condition don’t usually make it.”
Despite those words, Shirley heard an even
louder voice coming from within, saying “To
live and not die; to declare the glory of God.”

As Ryan lingered in a coma and on
life support, the family turned to prayer.
Shortly after the accident, Pat’s longtime
friend Larry King invited Pat and Lindy to come on “Larry King Live” and talk about
Ryan’s situation. They did, sharing their
faith and asking millions of viewers to pray
for Ryan. And they began to see results.

Lindy shares about the still-ongoing
experience honestly, not shielding the reader
from her struggles throughout the rollercoaster
ride of Ryan’s slow and difficult road
to recovery. “When Ryan broke through that
roof,” she writes, “he fell into a very different
life … It was a catastrophe, an earthquake
that shook my life down to its foundation.”
Yet her unwavering faith (and that of her
family) is poured out on every page of Heaven
Hears, as both a loving mother’s journal and
a testimony that God is faithful and does
indeed hear our prayers.

Proceeds from Heaven Hears will go to Ryan’s Reach
(RyansReach.com), a foundation started by the
Boone family to provide information and resources for
survivors of traumatic brain injury and their families.